In hot water

Saturday started out a little bit cold. When I got in the shower, I turned the hot water knob, and nothing came out. Lukecold showers resulted for everyone. But that may actually have gotten us out the door faster on our way to New York City, and we didn't let it dampen our spirits. That would come later.

We picked up Arnab, a friend from CLSP, drove three hours to Jersey City, where we found a free parking place, and rode the PATH train to Manhattan, where we met up with Paola, another friend who recently left CLSP. It was Summer's first time in NYC, but she didn't get to see very much. It took hours to get lunch, so that by the time we got uptown to Central Park, dusk was nearing. We walked to Times Square, braved the dense crowd, then split with Paola and took the subway farther uptown to meet Ahmad, a recent CLSP graduate, and his girlfriend for dinner. Afterwards, we rode several trains back to our car. So, we spent the greater part of our visit in restaurants.

Anyway, now begins the real story. By the time we arrived back in Baltimore, it was after one a.m. Nicole and Summer got to the apartment first, while I parked the car. Summer came back down to let me in the building after I tried using the intercom a couple times. She said, "Something happened to your apartment. The shower was on and there's water everywhere."

It seems the hot water had come back on some time during the day, and the knob in the shower wasn't all the way off. I was initially confused as to why there should be water everywhere—doesn't the drain work?—but all was made clear when we arrived. The apartment was like a sauna. No windows had been open. The water everywhere was condensation, of course. It was dripping from the ceiling, along with something coming out of the paint.

We spent the next three hours cleaning. Nicole opened all the windows to cool it down, then I closed them and turned on the AC to dry it out. We soaked up standing water on top of bookcases, washed dishes, scrubbed walls, wiped down ceilings, etc. We were quite overwhelmed at first glance, but by four a.m. we had come to realize that the damage was mostly to the ceiling paint.

Now, the wood floors are still sticky, some walls are stained brown, and the ceilings in the bedroom and office look terrible, but things are mostly back to normal. We took Summer to the airport yesterday afternoon, and then we bought some new pillows and sheets. It was time for a change anyway. It is a shame that the painting that we waited so long for is now partly ruined, though.